Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Sunday issued a social media post reminding the people of ‘The Great Calcutta Killings’, also referred to as the ‘Direct Action Day’, on this day in 1946 when thousands of Hindus were slaughtered in then Calcutta and now Kolkata
“On 16th August, 1946, our beloved Kolkata plunged into a horrific abyss of violence and bloodshed, forever etched in our collective memory as “Direct Action Day” and “The Great Calcutta Killings.” This date marks a dark and tragic chapter in our history, where communal hatred was unleashed by the then regime, claiming thousands of innocent lives,” CM Adhikari said in his social media post.
In the post, the Chief Minister also issued an appeal to the people of West Bengal not to forget those who were mercilessly killed in the four-day riots that started on this day in 1946.
“I bow my head in solemn remembrance of all those who perished during those calamitous days. Their suffering and the magnitude of loss must never be forgotten,” read the Chief Minister’s post.
According to him, the ‘Great Calcutta Killings’ are also a lesson for all that the same macabre killings should not be repeated in the future because of appeasement politics. “Let us pledge to learn from the mistakes of the past so that we may never again witness such a horrific breakdown of humanity, fuelled by appeasement politics,” the Chief Minister added.
To recall, on August 16 of 1946, an orchestrated attack was launched on Hindus living in Kolkata (then Calcutta). Gopal Mukherjee, popularly known as ‘Gopal Pantha’ because of the mutton shops owned by him and a resident of central Kolkata, protected Hindu Bengalis at that time.
After the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power in the state after the Assembly elections, a street in Kolkata was also named after him. On August 14, the Chief Minister attended a function at the Moulali Youth Centre.
There, too, he was heard mentioning ‘The Great Calcutta Killings’.
The Chief Minister, on that day, said that two Hindu genocides were committed in the name of dividing India. “One was in Bangladesh in 1971, and the other was The Great Calcutta Killings in 1946.
“How can we forget these? If Gopal Mukherjee had not been there that day, Hindus would have been reduced to nothing,” the Chief Minister said.
